Convenient videogame reviews, ratings

There’s one-stop shopping now for parents seeking ratings info about videogames. ESRB, the gaming industry’s ratings organization, and FamilyFriendlyVideogames have teamed up to put each game’s rating, content description, and a link to ESRB’s rating summary on its “Report Card” page in FamilyFriendlyVideogames.com, according to the joint press release. Here’s an example of the Report Card for the E-rated SpongeBob SquigglePants, including its grade (A), rating info, summary, and the very useful “Highlights” and “Lowlights.” I really think we need help like this for with gaming apps for mobile phones and devices like the iPod Touch, but there are tens of thousands of those, with the number growing by the minute it seems (PC World New Zealand just reported that Apple apps, for example, have passed the half-a-million mark, with 16% of those games, and AndroidPolice.com reported that apps for Android phones are quickly catching up). I asked FamilyFriendlyVideogames if mobile app reporters cards were anywhere on its horizon, and they said yes, stay tuned. Meanwhile, they think highly of MomsWithApps.com, a collaborative family-friendly app developer community, now with a catalog in iTunes that’s “very helpful in finding Apps of many different types that are good for families,” FFV told me.